Further to my post a week ago about Fisherman and Boatowner, the editor has gone to ground and is not expanding on his comments that the distributor, NDD, is to blame and that he did not mean to attack newsagents – not to me and others I have spoken with at least. The Fisherman and Boatowner situation, gross oversupply for many and undersupply for others, supports the claim that newsagents are treated poorly by the magazine supply chain – particularly in the long tail, titles outside the top 200 sellers.
No matter which KPI you use, return on investment, return on floor space, stock turn, or cash flow, smart newsagents are able to measure the cost to their businesses of the inefficiency in the magazine model. That they are denied the opportunity to make good business decisions about magazine supply is an appalling situation. Those presiding over the current supply model in the magazine distribution businesses ought to give entrepreneurial newsagents the tools to =run their businesses as they see fit – I suspect that the result would be an increase in overall sales.
Maybe Fisherman and Boatowner should close down – from retail at least. That newsagents are effectively funding the title by providing free shelf space and labour ought to be enough to see it removed from supply in all but the locations where it pays its own way. If such a move leads to the demise of the title so be it. I don’t see anyone providing financial assistance to keep struggling newsagencies open – we are not car makers after all.
Mark, How would your newsagent look with just 200 titles? I spend a lot of money in newsagents and love obscure titles.
This is just what makes you different. What if you just ran 200 titles. You would have a glorified convenience store selling virtually nothing at any better price than big specialist retailers.
Let’s just say you stuck with your 200. Would you complain if that made a space in the market for say, Magnation to open a magazine emporium with a thousand titles? You might become more profitable in the short term, but I really struggle to see what it is that you are offering consumers that they couldn’t get cheaper elsewhere? Stationery = Kmart, COnfectionery = Coles.
Maybe the real issue is what sort of USP can a newsagent provide the consumer? You aren’topen late and everywhere like 7-11, you don’t have the discounts that Kmart has.
It seems to me (as an outsider) that the USPfor a newsagency is stacks of magazines and a friendly local service that is like a resource for the community to be entertained, informes or educated.
Take it away and what do you have? I see a 7-11 with more stationery and fewer bags of crisps – only you are open early and shut early.
Just a consumers opinion.
Mark, How would your newsagent look with just 200 titles? I spend a lot of money in newsagents and love obscure titles.
This is just what makes you different. What if you just ran 200 titles. You would have a glorified convenience store selling virtually nothing at any better price than big specialist retailers.
Let’s just say you stuck with your 200. Would you complain if that made a space in the market for say, Magnation to open a magazine emporium with a thousand titles? You might become more profitable in the short term, but people seem to respond to the magnation experience. I really struggle to see what it is that you are offering consumers that they couldn’t get cheaper/better (other than magazines) elsewhere? Stationery = Kmart, Cnfectionery = Coles.
Maybe the real issue is what sort of USP can a newsagent provide the consumer? You aren’t open late and located everywhere like 7-11, you don’t have the discounts that Kmart has.
It seems to me (as an outsider) that the USP for a newsagency is stacks of magazines and a friendly local service that is like a resource for the community to be entertained, informed or educated. Build on your strengths.
Take it away and what do you have? I see a 7-11 with more stationery and fewer bags of crisps – only you are open early and shut early.
Just a consumers opinion.
Carroboblin I am not advocating that newsagents carry only 200 titles. I see an ideal newsagency as carrying around 900 titles. The key is that titles outside the top 200 are provide on more equitable terms. Mark
Hi, Mark.
I had some thought over your blog on long tail and niche titles.
Given 200 titles are the head, and the rest are the long tail that not every newsagent welcomes.
1. Internet based subscription agents enjoy the long tail.
2. A formated retail group of strong outlets, such as your NewsXpress outlets, has the power to move some niche titles from the tail to the head if all member stores start promtions (such as health one and the Housing affordability one in your blog) so that the best seller mags help the sales of those niche titles. By selling more niche titles, or turning them into subscription, retail newsagent groups can make more profit from Long Tail.
3. Indepent and smaller newsagents are very hard to make profit from the long tail. As Carroboblin said, providing some local-focused books and service may has some profit.
Cheers,
Sunny
Sunny you are right about the value of groups to promote lesser known titles. This is what groups like newsXpress can do effectively. What we cannot do, however, is fix the very end of the line – the bottom 200 titles. These are dead in all but a few stores and we need to weed them out.
Given that newsXpress is capped to 250 stores, there is an opportunity for the another group to find common ground and offer a brand based marketing platform.